A physical resource block (PRB) bundling (PRB bundling) is a technology used to improve channel estimation performance. The PRB bundling is to bind a plurality of consecutive PRBs together for joint processing. A network device may perform same preprocessing (including beamforming and precoding) on the plurality of PRBs (or referred to as a precoding resource block group (PRG)). A terminal device may perform joint channel estimation across the plurality of PRBs. When the terminal device performs the joint channel estimation across the plurality of PRBs, extrapolation computation of the channel estimation may be reduced, and accuracy of the channel estimation may be improved.
In different scenarios (channel environments), comprehensively considering a channel estimation gain, terminal implementation complexity, a forming gain, and a scheduling status, optimal sizes of PRB bundling may be different.
During PRB bundling, according to a stipulation of an existing protocol, the network device determines a size of a precoding resource block group by using a unique method by default, and the terminal device determines a size of resource block bundling by using a unique method by default. However, in existing PRB application, the size of the precoding resource block group or the size of the resource block bundling is determined by using a default method, and consequently the existing PRB bundling application is not flexible, and it is difficult to meet requirements for different values of a PRB bundling size.